New York!

My mom was great and booked a trip for her, my dad and I to go to New York to celebrate my graduation. I only handed the thesis in for the last round of comments, because my schedules have been messed up by the success of game  I was working on. But because the trip was booked months ago, we just decided to celebrate now, graduation is so close ;D

There's a Sephora next block to the hotel so I know where I'll be spending most of my money :)

Demon Hunter's Day Off

I just had to get some less imposing pics of the Demon Hunter costume while at it ;D So this is what Demon Hunter's do on their days off.

Oh look, a kitty!

Don't you love me, kitty?

That's better!

Freedom! My hair is so long and thick it gets really hot under a wig ;D

Marks & Spencer At Sokos Tampere!

I was very happy to get an invite to the opening event at a Marks & Spencer at the local Tampere Sokos department store. So many people dressed super nicely, little hors d'œuvres and such a a lovely atmosphere! I'm busy working on my thesis but managed to take some time off to check out the event and buy a few hand creams to try out. They had lovely scents and I need a hand cream at the office, my hand dry out due to the air conditioning. Here's just a quick snap from the event, then I'm back to putting the finishing touches on the thesis!

And yes, I did stand out from the crowd with my Satan pants, but no, I didn't care ;D

If you like English biscuits, tea or candy, you should definitely check out the little food shop they have at the Marks & Spencer department! I tried the All Butter Scottish Shortbread Fingers and Extra Strong tea, both were yummy!

Sephora Rouge Infusion Review

Lip stains are products that I love. I usually like to have some colour on my lips, but don't want to touch it up constantly, so any and all products that last a long time are perfect for me! The last time I was in Stockholm I popped to Sephora to get a few lipsticks, and found out that they had their own gloss stain product, called Rouge Infusion.

Sephora Rouge Infusion in Plum

Sephora Rouge Infusion in Plum

Rouge Infusion comes in a test-tube shaped vial with a doe foot applicator. The vial is shiny and made of black plastic, it looks very neat and classy. The product itself is a gloss that also stains, so when the gloss starts to wear off, you will still have colour on your lips. I chose a shade called Plum, as it looked like it could be purple based which I like. The shade selection was nothing to get excited about, mainly brownish reds. Very usable, easy shades, but I like purples more!

Doe-foot applicator in action!

Rouge Infusion is perfumed and has a berry scent to it, I'd say it's blackcurrant. A very sharp, crisp smell, not musty at all. The perfume fades away fast so you can only smell it when applying the lip stain.

On my lips the Rouge Infusion wears well, I can get 5+ hours of wear without having to reapply. It's also not drying like some long lasting products, thanks to the gloss. The colour is buildable, so once you re apply, the areas that had not lost the colour are a little bit darker. You can also apply two layers straight away to get a darker shade.

While Rouge Infusion is not smudge proof, the gloss can smudge, it stays very neat for a long time. Plum is not purple, it's a brownish dark red. A beautiful shade and very easy to combine with many looks.

An interesting titbit is that I also had ordered some Me Now Long Lasting Lip Glosses from Born Pretty. They have the exact same vial as the Sephora Rouge Infusion, but in a different colour. The packaging must come from the same factory. The product is not the same though, Me Now glosses, despite the name, dry to a matte, smudge-proof finish, where Rouge Infusion is more sheer and the finish is glossy. Upon close inspection the applicators are not identical, Me Now gloss has a longer doe foot tip than the Rouge Infusion.

Comparison of Sephora Rouge Infusion with Me Now Long Lasting Lip Gloss

Rouge Infusion in Plum is the same shade as Me Now Long Lasting Lip Gloss in 33, but because the products are so different, they are definitely not dupes. Me Now gives a matte finish and no staining, while Rouge Infusion has a glossy finish and leaves a stain when the gloss wears off.

Applicators side by side. Me Now gloss has a longer doe foot applicator than Sephora Rouge Infusion.

Close-up on the applicators.

Pros

+ Easy to apply

+ Stain stays even when the gloss wears off

+ Easy to wear shades

+ Not drying on lips

Cons

- Limited selection of shades

- Available only at Sephora

I like the Rouge Infusion, but it's not a Holy Grail for me. It's nice and works with many looks for a fairly natural but defined lips, so I keep it in my emergency make-up bag I carry with me. It's something I would wear to work but not for my evening or club looks.

It's been a long time since I had the time to do a make-up review post! Would you, my lovely readers, like to see reviews more often? I'm currently working on the finishing touches on my thesis, so I might soon have some time to do more reviews :)

Gala Look

Here's some close-ups on my gala look! These are actually from the trial run I did to see how that all the shades worked together, and some of you might notice that I actually chose to do my brows with pink instead of black in the final look. Elina from Salon Scissor Sister made me a fabulous hair-do to go with the dress and make-up, so this emergency ponytail was not what I had at the gala!

Sugarpill Subterranean on the lids, Mac Cyber on the lips.

Mac Cyber lipstick and Nightmoth liner on top of the same brand's lip primer. I'm excited to see how well the primer works!

Subterranean is a dark, metallic green from the Cold Chemistry palette. My absolute favourite from the palette. There's a faint hint of Kitten Parade on the inner part of the lid, just below the brow, and a touch of CandyCrush on the inner side of the lower lid.

Finnish Game Awards 2015 Outfit

Yesterday I had a fun evening in Helsinki, celebrating at the Finnish Game Awards gala, where last year's best game were announced. Last year I had to get a last minute emergency dress, but this year I was prepared and got a dress early and even booked a hairdresser's appointment to get my hair done!

This one is from the gala! The company I work for was sponsoring it, and each sponsor
had a signature drink created. This one is ours, it's called Pink Order! Photo by Jukka O. Kauppinen.

Dress - Rogue by Tiina Ulkuniemi (made to measure)

Necklace - Bones & Lilies x Rogue collaboration

Hair - Elina from Salon Scissor Sister

(I changed into elegant heels at the venue, these Unif boots don't go so well with the dress ;P)

I hope some of the full body pictures from the event turn out nice so I could show you a pic with my heels on! I have an excellent pair of black leather high heels that look super classy with any outfit and are really comfy to wear. Perfection!

I crocheted that purple hair net the night before the gala with my own hands. I suck at crocheting so it was hard, this one was my third try. Luckily Elina got it to work so nice with the hairdo!

Achtung! Bubblegum Photoshoot Teaser

Today I did a photoshoot for an upcoming collection called Achtung! Bubblegum, that's all about uniforms, burtonesque stripes and hot hot pink. My kinda colours and patterns! The official photos will be available after the clothes have been presented at a fashion show, but here's a little teaser shot I took while at the photoshoot. Just look at that cool hat and collar!

To find out more about Achtung! Bubblegum, check out their Tumblr-page that updates regularly. I love how Liisa and Suvi have documented the process of making the clothes, I just love to see how things come together :)

Outfit of the Day

I wore a simple black outfit to visit my parents on Easter. It was lovely to visit the countryside, there were birds singing and the nature is slowly waking up. I found this Lip Service shirt recently at a flea market, it's such an easy piece to wear. I had to take it in a bit and it looks to be needing ironing, but it's very comfy and still has nice details.

Cardigan - H&M

Shirt - Lip Service

Pants - Bik Bok

Boots - New Rock

The Snow Queen

Pictures from the Snow Queen photoshoot, yay! I wrote a post about the photoshoot with some behind the scenes pictures, and another one on the make-up look. I'm really pleased with these pics, the follies in Hämeenlinna were an excellent backdrop. I might do another shoot some day with the outfit, because I put so many hours into in and it looks so nice. And once I get to fixing the crown, close-up shots would work great!

Model, styling, hair, make-up: Me
Photos: Helena Pahaoja

Demon Hunter Cosplay (part 3)

Full body shots from all angles! The previous parts looked at the pieces in more detail, but this post is all about how the outfit works as a whole.

Below is the original concept art by Blizzard that the outfit is based on. The picture after that is the official cosplay contest picture taken by Emilia Lahtinen. Pretty close match, wouldn't you say?

 

All in all I'm very pleased with how the outfit looks! It is cumbersome to wear, the huge pauldron needs some padding and the larger bracer should be shortened a little bit, and I need to re-do the hood and think about the cloak attachment some more. But everything stays on, I can walk around, sit, eat and brush the damned hair off from my face.

I decidedly left out some armor pieces when making the outfit, but they don't catch the eye almost at all. The collar and the weird flaps hanging from the belt were the pieces I did not make. The collar looks nice in the picture, but would have been very hard to get to sit right. The flaps would have prevented me from sitting and could have made the belt ride up. I feel leaving those parts out was a good choice.

The silhouette is close to the concept art, just like I wanted. The shoe soles are red, just like I wanted. I'm also very pleased with the fact that the armor covers me well but is still sexy, with curves in the right places. There's no fear of wardrobe malfunctions because under it all I'm clad head to toe in black fabric.